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COLUMBIA, Mo. -
The University of Missouri has recruited one of the nation's top assistant coaches to take over its men's and women's swimming and diving programs, as longtime University of Arizona assistant Greg Rhodenbaugh will become the next Tiger head coach, as announced today by Executive Associate Athletics Director Sarah Reesman.

"This is a very exciting moment for my family and I," said Rhodenbaugh. "We are very excited about being a part of the University of Missouri culture, and I firmly believe that the University of Missouri can be on the map in swimming and diving," Rhodenbaugh said. "I feel like this is a place that shares a similar mission as mine, and that is to work with student-athletes and see them grow in every facet of their lives. I'd like to express my gratitude to Mike Alden, Sarah Reesman and to everyone who worked with the search committee for giving me this opportunity, and I can't wait to meet our teams and get started," he said.

Rhodenbaugh has spent the last 11 years as an assistant under legendary swimming coach Frank Busch at Arizona, where he has been the primary coach for the middle distance, stroke and individual medley events. During his tenure as a Wildcat, Rhodenbaugh has been a part of the 2008 men's and women's national championship teams, and coached many Olympic swimmers, including two-time gold medalist Amanda Beard, Ryan Berube, Ricardo Prado and Lars Frolander. He is a member of the U.S. Swimming National Team staff and traveled with the U.S. National Junior Team to Barcelona in 2000 as a staff member.

"Greg is an outstanding fit for the University of Missouri and our swimming and diving programs, and we feel very fortunate to be able to bring someone in with his qualifications and background of success," Reesman said. "We had a chance to talk to a lot of the top coaches in the nation during this process, and they made it clear that Greg was extremely well thought of both as a person and as a coach at all levels, and we're excited to bring him in and are very confident that he can take our programs and advance them forward," she said.

This will be Rhodenbaugh's second stint as a head coach, his first coming in 1988-89 at his alma mater of Southern Methodist, where he also swam and was a five-time All-American during a senior year where the Mustangs finished fifth at the 1984 national championships. After being an assistant for four years, Rhodenbaugh became the interim coach in 1988 where he was named the Southwest Conference's Co-Coach of the Year.

Rhodenbaugh is the fifth member of a lineage of successful swimmers in his family, encompassing his seven other brothers and sisters who have gone on to compete on the national and world levels, hold numerous state and collegiate records, and participate at the Olympic level as his younger sister Kim competed in the 1984 Olympics in the 200 breast stroke.

Some of the accolades that Rhodenbaugh has achieved as an athlete include a conference championship, U.S. Nationals championship, and being named SMU's team captain in 1984. He still continues to swim in masters competitions, as he has four Master's Nationals individual championships and was a world record holder in 1993, 1994 and as recently as 2007. As a youngster, Rhodenbaugh swam for Busch as a member of the Cincinnati Marlins Swim Club.